R.I.P. 5 Hour Snickers Demon

If you are wondering about the title of this post, you do not know about my history of this race. It was four years ago I tried to run my 1st marathon. I had dreams of breaking a 5 hour race. I was so close but missed it by a few minutes. So I decided to run it again, again and again. Well no more. It has been broken. The demon shall be put to rest.

4:51:59

Overall 490/631

Pace 11:09

10 mile : 1:49:12

13 mile : 2:24:07

20 mile : 3:41:24

My time from last year was 5:10:34. I am still on cloud nine. I cant believe that I have finally beaten the demon. It has bothered my for years. I really started to think that I would never beat it. I started to believe that I was going to be just a runner that could run for a long distance and not for a specific pace. WRONG!!!!

The day before: well it was like any other pre-race day. Mandie and I got to the hotel and checked in and waited on the expo to start. We met up with Tommy and Carol from Peachsports.com and talked to them about the race photos. I will load some from the race soon. I loved them. I got a chance to see some old friends from different marathons and meet some new friends. Don and Karen decided to run this race together so we were going to met at the expo and go out to eat with our other friends from Macon. We met up at Outback for dinner and then it was back to room for some rest.

RACEDAY: The alarms are going off through out the motel starting at 3:45 a.m. and now I cant go back to sleep. WOW only about 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep. It is going to be a long day. I know that I could go into a lot of details but I wont. I will try and keep it interesting.

We lined up at 6:45 and waited on the pre-race music to start. It was slightly overcast at 54 degrees. We were talking to other marathon maniacs in the race cause we were all wearing our MM shirts.

This is a picture of Doc ( the official man who started the race ), Don ( my new coach ), Karen and myself. We were 3 of about 25 maniacs who had their shirts on for the race. This was at mile 4. It was funny but everytime we came up to someone taking photos that it was the same time for our walk break. I like using the Galloway method of running. I use a ratio of run/walk of run 1:30 and walk 45 sec. I had tried many ratios and this one works the best for me so far.

We ran together and talked with Doc and he was telling us about the race and supports along the way. He shouted at everyone. I think he knows everyone in Albany Ga.

At around mile 8, we ran into the St. Patty's. It was a group of 3 women wearing green outfits. They were running a ratio of 4:1 and we ran with them for about 5 miles before they started falling off pace. It was fun watching their husbands waving signs and getting into their truck and going down the road to met them again. It nice to see funny things along the way to get my mind off the pace. Don was pushing us pretty fast for the 1st 13 miles. We had several minutes built up for spare time. I kept telling Karen that we would use them later.

We hit the 1/2 point at 13.1 and I was about 6 minutes faster than any other marathon I had ever run before. I was nervous. I thought for sure that I had gone out way too fast and I would burn out. I kept pushing it while Karen said it was too fast and she would have to back off. She said that she didn't want to get hurt so we continued on. Pushing every mile and it seemed like we were getting faster. Don kept pushing me and telling me I was doing great.

Well we came to the dreaded mile 16 where the lake is at. This is the point of the race where I mentally have problems. Don did his best to get my mind off of it. He did. We pounced through the next 4 miles and before I knew it, we were at mile 20. YES, this is where I usually get my strength back.

I trekked on pushing with everything I had. Eating bananas, oranges, gu's along the way and slamming down water and Gatorade. Then it hit me at mile 24. My Gymboss, a device that keeps up with my walk/run breaks, went crazy and died. I was so mad. I had to rely totally on Don to tell me when to run and when to walk. I told him my body was getting tired and I needed to change to a 1:1 ratio. Well he set it to a 1 and 55 sec and didn't tell me. He is slow slick. It didn't matter cause I couldn't count at that point. I was getting tired and MAD. It seemed like my times were slipping. But they were not.

It might be hard to see the chart but Don told me if I kept my running below a 12 min/mile that I would have this won. Well I did. We hit mile 25 and I think the clock said 4:38. I knew that I had it but I had to keep my eye on the prize. I could not stop. I had to pull down from deep down and just go for it. We turned and headed for the train depot and I saw Carol taking pictures. I yelled at her and told her that " I've done it. I have beaten the demon". I was pumping my fist and shouting with joy. As we headed down the final approach, there was a woman walking with a beer and I jokingly acted like I was going to grab it. She stopped and handed it to me and said go ahead, you deserve it. I slammed it down and kept running. I turned to see the time and I started crying with joy. I have done. I have beaten the 5 hour demon. I can put this race in the books, once and for all. YES, thank you Lord. We did it. I crossed the finish line and see my wife and I hugged Tommy. I was so happy to be finished that I didn't feel any pain. I received my metal and went straight for the beer table. I needed some CARB reloading. Don and I went to the finish line area and waited and prayed for Karen to finish before 5 hours. She was able to finish around 5:05 which was a 5 minute improvement on her PR.

I don't remember any other marathon where I finished with a HUGE smile on my face. Thank you to Tommy, Carol and Mandie for capturing some great shots of me. Thank you to Don for PUSHING ME, thank you Karen for helping me and believing in me. But most of all a special huge thank you to my wife Amanda for being my best supporter. For listening to my groaning and complaining for the last 4 years and standing beside me through all of this.

Getting ready for Donna and Snickers

This weekend was suppose to be a nice long run. Normally we have been running about 2 minutes slower than out target pace at a sub 5 marathon. Well we went out yesterday and I was feeling good. I don't know if it is because I am eating better or if it is because of the continuous training. Anyway it is working for me. We did a 10 mile run and we did it at an average pace of 10:52 and that is about 45 seconds per mile faster than my goal pace.

I hope that when I go to the Snickers marathon that I will be able to keep this pace but I know that the Donna marathon is going to be a training run. I am going there to have fun while running a marathon.

More to come later. Have a great week and keep it in the roads.

Where is the warm weather?

I like to have some cold weather here in the south but enough already. I am ready for some warmer temps. I want to get out and run but when you have so many clothes to stay warm and not get wind burn, it is ridiculous.

I am going to run the 26.2 with Donna Marathon next month and I am looking forward to the warmer temps. I realized this weekend that we spend too much time wondering about the future and that is one thing that I am going to try and not do anymore. I am just saying that I am ready for some changes in the temps.

It makes me mad that I don't go out and run but I go inside the Wellness Center and run on the warm concrete track. I guess if you have to do something, you might as well be happy.

Well for now, have a wonderful day and put all worries behind.

Museum of Aviation Marathon 2011

Warner Robins, Ga WRAFB
COLD with no wind and no rain. This was the first time in 4 years that we had good weather. It was about 21 degrees at the start. I was trying to go for a sub 5 race today. I was not feeling it early and was hoping that it would kick in during the run. My friend Karen was running with me today to help pace me.
I was waiting on my new shoes to come in yesterday from Run Fit Sports but with all the snow and ice that has hit the east coast, UPS was not able to deliver them. So it was off to another race in my old shoes. Well I have to blame it on something. Ha-Ha
When they started the race, they use a traditional race gun. When Karen and I hit the 3 mile marker, I heard a LOUD roar. I looked on the runway and a F-16 was taking off. I was so happy. I love seeing planes. I think that is why I love to run this course which is 2 loop course around the AFB. When he took off, he pointed it up and shot to the sky. It was awesome. I don't know who the pilot was but thank you. It was fun watching.
Then when we got around on the opposite side of the runway, the plane went up again. Then he started doing rolls after take off and he was right above my head. I was waving to him and I think he waived back. YES, he was this close. I could see the pilot. This made this the best race ever. I have always wanted to see planes flying during the race but they have never done it before.
I was holding a good pace at the 1/2 point and was on track for a sub 5. I got a chance to run with a dear friend of mine, Gen. She is a breast cancer survivor and is going through chemo right now. She looked great today. When I went out for the 2nd loop, I knew what was ahead of me. I don't like the 2nd loop and miles 15 - 18 is a bad area for me. I have never liked this time of the race. This is when I want to give up. Once I get to mile marker 20 I feel much better. I knew that if I was able to finish the last 6.2 miles with 1 hour and 10 minutes left to go on the clock. I was feeling o.k. Then at mile 22, THE WALL LAID THE BRICKS DOWN ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My body started to shut down. My left leg was hurting and my foot was getting a bad hot spot. I was tired and I knew it. It was time to walk, come to reality and just finish. Well that is exactly what I did. I finished with a time of 5:14 and found out that is was a course PR for me by 27 minutes from last year. WOW I did something good and didn't even though it.
Well I have had my dinner and now it is time to go to bed with some muscle relaxers. Good night and God bless.

2011

Every year our local running club likes to meet on Jan 1st to go for a run so that we can say this is what we are going to do all year. So there was 3 of us that met at our normal starting location and started out for a 20 mile run. We are getting ready for the Donna 26.2 marathon coming up in Feb.

We started out on our journey making up the route as we went on. We could have gone on an easy route but no. I chose a much more difficult route with a lot of hills and long inclines. I think that this was my downfall. I was feeling good until around mile 14. I could tell me strength was falling off and I was falling back. I was not sure what was going on cause I have not felt like this in a long time. I guess the extra weight and time off during the holidays has really made an impact in my training. It is like know I will have to start from scratch.

Well I am going to do what ever it takes to get back into shape. I have 3 marathons in the next couple of months. I am going to have to put everything behind me and just do it.

Christmas 2010

Well it was a great holiday weekend but now it is time to get back to the training schedule. I have 3 marathons coming up, Donna 26.2 in Feb., Snickers in March and Country Music in April. I have run these races before but I like them cause they are local.

As we get closer to the end of March, we are starting up our Galloway program again to get prepared for the Savannah Marathon. This is going to be a 1st for Rock and Roll to come to Ga for a race. I love to run innagural races.

More to come later but for now it is time to put on the new shoes and RUN!!!!

Bartram Forest 50K 2010

This morning as I woke up, I crawled out of bed as my body is killing me. I am very sore. I have not ever felt like this before. I hurt from my toenails to my hair on my head. I forgot how much torture your body goes through when running trail races. Rocks, gravel, roots, jumping small trees. It all takes the toll on your body when your done. But hey, it is fun.

I arrived with my wife at the forest around 6 a.m. to start putting things out and there was one runner who started before I got there. It was cold and windy. The wind was coming across the lake and I thought it was going to change to snow but it didn't. As we were trying to prepare the bags and goodies, runners were starting to pile in. This was great because we were not sure how people were going to show up. When the race started 5 years ago, there were only 5 runners. This year we had an all time high of 90 runners. Thank you for all who came out.

We had some changes in the course this year due to changes in the forest. Normally we had a figure 8 course but this year we had some small changes. For a 1st time runner at Bartram, it is a little confusing. It has taking me about 2 or 3 times before I have finally gotten comfortable with the course. We had some runners saying that they had gotten lost and that is normal. We are going to try and fix this problem next year with more signs and ropes. But one problem I can't fix is that we were told that some runners were cutting corners and making their race short. I told them that is between them and God. I can't do anything about that and they were NOT going to place in any awards. If we had to, I would look at their Garmin to see the total distance, but we did not have to do it.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who showed up yesterday. We could not have done it without yall. Their were so many that I can not thank everyone personally. Whether you brought something for us to eat, helped out in cooking and cleaning, sat at one of the aid stations to help with food/drinks, thank you to everyone. Yall are awesome and races could not go on without yall.

Today is going to be a day of rest and thinking of how the race could improve next year. I truly hope that everyone is o.k. this morning cause I know there were some that fell and twisted some ankles. Bartram Forest is a technical, off road course that will get you off your feet if you are not looking. Once again thank you to all who came out to help us with keeping the race going this year.